Switching-socket



E. S. PRESTON.

SWITCHlNG SOCKET.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6. 1911.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

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' Specification of Letters Patent.

OFT I.

Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

Application filed January 6, 1917. Serial No. 140,900.

ful Improvements in Switching-Sockets; and

I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will eiiable others skilled.

in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to electrical fittings and more particularly to switchin sockets or connectors as used for controlIing low voltage circuits, its general objects being to provide an unusually simple, cheap and effective construction for appliances of this class. lVhileapplicable to widely varyin types, my invention is particularly adapted for use in equipping sockets for automobile lamps and is therefore disclosed in such embodiments in the accompanying drawings and in the following specification, from both of which the further objects of my invention will be apparent.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section through a lamp-socket embodying my invention as applied to a socalled gage lamp.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective View of the casing of Fig. 1.

Fig. 8 is a similar section showing my invention as embodied in a socket having a detachable and partly rotatable plug.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevation of a portion of Fig. 3. r

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through Fig. 3 along the line 5 5.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the upper insulating body of the-socket of Fig. 1.

In accomplishing the purposes of my invention, I employ a current-conducting elelment disposed at one side of-the axis of the socket casing t'his element being preferably of ,the well known spring-pressed plunger type common in sockets and connectors of this general class. Associated with this contact element and operatively opposed to it,

.I employ a second contact element, preferably in the shape of a plate extending transversely of the socket casing and so embedded in a groove in the end of an insulating body that the walls of the said groove will prevent a lateral or rotational movement of this second contact element with respect to said insulating body. Tlie first named conducting element and the insulating body which acts as a carrier for the transverse plate-are mounted for relative rotation about the axis of the socket, this being accomplished in various waysv according to (the particular manner in which the appliance is to b used. For example, Fig. 1 shows a flanged socket comprising a caslng 1 having an insulating cylinder 2 fast therein and having bayonet. slots 3 at its upper end for interlocking with pins 4 on the shell 5 of a lamp-holder, which holder in turn is equipped for interlocking with the metal shell 6 on the base of a lamp 7. Fast within the holder shell 5 is an insulating member 8 carrying a spring plunger 9 extending axially of the shell 5 into contact with the exposedv axial contact on the base of the lamp. The plunger 9 is electrically connected through the spring 10 with the cylinder 11 which houses the head 9fthe plunger, and the lower end of this cylinder issuita'bly secured (as by riveting a contracted tip 12) to a metal contact plate 13 extending transversely of the shell 5 but terminating short of the latter. This plate 13 is set into a groove formed in the lower end of the insulator 8, so that the walls of the groove will engage the sides to the plate to pre ent the latter from rotating about the tip 12. Secured to the insulator 8 and projecting through aslot in the shell 5 which extends for (say) a quarter of the circumference around this shell, is a handle 14:, by means of which the insulator 8 and the plate carried thereby may be partially rotated about the axis of the said bringing a plunger 24 carried by a wire terminal 25 (carried by the insulator 2 now axially of'the casing 1) out of contact with the plate 13 and hence rupturing the circuit. (The other terminal of the circuitin this case is formed through the casing 1 and the grounded shell. 5 from a ground 15 to the metal shell 6 of the lamp).

InFig. 2, the socket illustrated has 9. cas ing 16 equipped at opposite ends with bayonet slots for interlocking respectively with a lamp 7 and a wire-terminal plug, and this mer of which extends axially of the casing 16 and into contact with'the axial lamp terminal onthe lamp base. The other plunger 19 extends parallel to, b1 1 t ,.toone side of the axis of the casing "and is shown in shell, thereby Fig. 3 as contacting with a transverse plate 1.3 mortised into the end of the body 2 of the said plug. Secured to the plate 13 to prevent movement of the latter longitudi nally of the plug, a wire terminal 21, while a companion terminal 22 is grounded to the metal shell of the plug and hence through about a quarter-turn, thereby allowing the plug to be locked either in the position of Figs. 3 and i, or in a position in which the plate 13 extends transversely of its position in the aforesaid case. This movement carries the plate 13 to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, thereby bringing the downwardly extending plunger 19 into contact with the insulating body 2 of the plug and hence rupturing the circuit.

From the above, it will be obvious that in either case I am employing a cheap and simple construction, and since I use walls of the roove in the insulating carrier for the traniverse' plate as means for preventing rotation of this plate, I do not require a rigid fastening of this plate to the metalconducting element which extends longitudinally ot the casing. Moreover, it will be obvious from the drawings that a half-turn of casing of F ig. 1, or a half-turn of the plug oi'Fig. 2 with respect to the casing 16, will in no way alter the effective operation of these appliances. Consequently, they may be employed by the unskilled without reof any kind. It will also be obvious that in each case the spring plungers not only insure good electrical connections but also hold the rotatable members firmly interlocked. with the casings or shells carrying the same.

However, while I have shown and desert-bed 1 mg, a lamp in one end of the casing having the same relative position thereto in both the on and oil status, an insulating body fixed in the other end of the casing, a yielding contact carried by said body at one side ot the axis of the casing and having means for connection with a-wire terminal, an intermediate insulating body rotatably mounted within the casing, and a contact carried by the intermediate body having one end yieldable and coincident with the axis of the casing and constantly in contact withthe lamp and its other end fixedly mountedv and disposed transverse the casing for cooperation with the other yielding contact whereby rotation of the intermediate body will move said contacts into and out of engagement. EDWARD S. PRESTON 'quiring instructions or particular accuracy 

